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User blog:Pinkguy the b0ss/Donkey Kong Country Review
What's up my Shreks, it's me DiamondMinerStudios. Today I'm going to review the SNES game Donkey Kong Country. IT'S ON LIKE... oh yeah that saying is trademarked by Nintendo so if I say it I'll probably get copyright... don't worry about it. Let's begin. The proper way to introduce this game is through a history lesson. First, we focus on the company that developed it - Rareware. They were originally developing NES games, most notably Battletoads. Later on, Rare teamed up with Silicon Graphics and produced a demo of 3D models rendered using one of their workstations. Nintendo saw the demo and was impressed, buying 50% of the company. This made Rare a second-party developer for Nintendo, and they were offered a large sum of money to improve the quality of the 3D models and use them for a game. They decided to make a side scrolling platformer inspired by the Super Mario Bros. series, but using the then nearly-forgotten character Donkey Kong, from the original 1981 arcade game. This game became Donkey Kong Country. The game was heavily advertised, including an advertisement which was a response to the Sega Genesis "Genesis does what Nintendon't" ad campaign, showing off the state-of-the-art graphics (for that time period) and a promotional video which was sold in stores. The game was eventually released on November 21, 1994 to rave reviews, and it became the second-best selling game on the SNES (second only to Super Mario World). It is often cited as the sole reason the SNES eventually beat the Genesis in the 16-bit console war, but that's only a myth. With all of that out of the way, let's get to the game itself and see if it still holds up today, shall we? Story One stormy night, Diddy Kong, Donkey Kong's nephew, was watching DK's banana hoard when the evil Kremlings break in, steal the bananas and seal Diddy in a barrel. Cranky Kong (DK's grandfather who is actually the original DK from the 1981 arcade game) tells him, and once DK sees that his hoard is gone, he sets out on a quest to get it back from the Kremlings. Decent enough story even if it's extremely simple. I don't really care about story depth in my platformers, so I'll just leave it at that. DKC's story does its job. Gameplay You play as Donkey Kong (obviously) and Diddy Kong, and your goal is simple - make it to the end of the level without dying. You can press A or Select to switch between Kongs at any time, and if you get hit with both Kongs present, you will lose the one that got hit. Get hit again, and you will die. In order to prevent this, barrels with "DK" on them can be broken to get the other Kong back. The controls are very smooth and responsive - if you press a button the game responds perfectly. The game does experience slowdown sometimes (very rarely, I might add), due the relatively slow processor of the SNES. At these times, the game feels.... well, slow and unresponsive, obviously. This lasts no longer than a second or two whenever it happens, though, so it's not an issue that ruins the game. One minor problem, though, is something that may just be my controller - sometimes, when I hold down the Y button to run, the game thinks I pressed the button and makes the character do a roll. It doesn't happen often on regular levels, and instead seems to be most common on moving platforms. This makes a few of the otherwise well-designed stages more annyoing than they really ought to be, but it doesn't ruin the game as a whole. The strange thing is that this only really happens in the first game, and if it does in the other two, it only occurs maybe once or twice in my normally 1.5-3 hour playthroughs. Again, it could just be my controller, but if you can offer any other possible explanation, than I'd greatly appreciate it. Anyways, let's get back on track. The game consists of six worlds and the final boss level - Kongo Jungle, Monkey Mines, Vine Valley, Gorilla Glacier, Kremkroc Industries, Chimp Caverns, and Gangplank Galleon (which is only the final boss King K. Rool). In these worlds, many different types of levels are encountered, including, but not limited to - water levels, underground levels, minecart stages, "barrel blast" levels, and many other types with different setpieces which make each level feel different from one another. Even if the world has a certain look to it, such as forests, tundras or factories, not every stage fits that theme, such as temples being in Vine Valley or caves in Kremkroc. It adds an element of unpredictability and vairety to the game, which prevents it from being repetitive and keeps it interesting. Now let's get into the difficulty of the game. Difficulty Donkey Kong Country is a tough game, probably one of the hardest I've played. The difficulty is designed quite well in the game, and has a natural progression to it. Some levels may feel unfair (*cough* Poison Pond *cough*), but this happens extremely rarely. Sometimes, the challenge is from obstacles the game throws at you that you probably won't be able to react to quickly enough the first time, but the majority of deaths are the player's fault due to the controls being as solid as they are. The levels' difficulty make them addictive and fun to play, and the feeling of completing some of the harder stages provides an ultimate feeling of accomplishment you don't get in many games today. However, there are two flaws with the diificulty - first is the bosses, especially the first four. At the end of each world, you fight a boss. The first four worlds' bosses are too easy, often taking only one and a half minutes to beat, at most. However, the last three bosses - Dumb Drum, Master Necky Snr., and King K. Rool are actually a bit challenging and serve as great bosses to the later worlds. Second, the inconsistent save point placement. The first few worlds have well-placed save points, with the requirement to only beat two to four levels to unlock the save point. However, Gorilla Glacier has the requirement to beat five levels before you have the ability to save, including the infamous Snow Barrel Blast and Ice Age Alley. This makes Gorilla Glacier the most hated world in the game by fans, and it was also my least favorite world of all six. However, these flaws do not make the game or Gorilla Glacier bad by any means, just a few design choices that aren't the best. Anyways, let's talk about the soundtrack. Soundtrack This game has a great soundtrack. It was composed by David Wise, with help from Evelline Novakovic (Evelline Fischer at the time this game was made) and Robin Beanland. It has tons of great tracks that are quite memorable and catchy. Some tracks are less memorable, but these songs are not bad at all. In fact, this OST is so good, I'll list my top ten songs from the game and briefly offer my thoughts on them. Here we go. 10. Ice Cave Chant - very catchy with just the right splash of ambience. 9. DK Island Swing - a very atmospheric song that sets the mood of the first level quite well. 8. Bonus Room Blitz - this one is memorable, especially since it gives you the euphoric feeling of finding a bonus room. 7. Simian Segue - a great song that fits the menu all too well. 6. Tree-Top Rock - a funky song that's pretty catchy. 5. Forest Frenzy - this one just sets the whole atmosphere of the forests quite well, especially the level of the same name as this song, which is one of the game's tougher stages. 4. Fear Factory - one of the game's most badass songs, perfectly fitting in the factory stages. 3. Gangplank Galleon - a really badass boss theme, starting off with a sea chantey into something more like a heavy metal song. 2. Credits Concerto - a very calming melody that may bring tears of nostalgia from those that grew up with this game (I didn't grow up with it, but... you know just saying). 1. Aquatic Ambiance - ...amazing. That's it. Just, outstanding. Overall, this soundtrack is one of my favorite video game soundtracks of all time. Graphics When one talks about a Donkey Kong Country game, this point cannot be ignored. This game looks good not just by SNES standards, but just good in general. The sprites are surprisingly high-quality even 25 years later, and the game possesses a unique visual charm. The animations are also incredible, and the color saturation is pitch-perfect. While these visuals have aged in some ways (one way being how you can see the edge of pixel tiles on the plants in the jungle levels, and the somewhat limited color pallete when compared to DKC2), I still think that they look great. Conclusion Overall, Donkey Kong Country is a fantastic game that everyone who has an SNES should own. If we're talking about sidescrollers, I like Donkey Kong Country 2, Super Mario World, Sonic 3&K, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Super Mario Land 2 more than this game, but this game still deserves to be remembered alongside those games. With graphics that have aged quite well (still looking good today, although not as impressive as they would have been back then), fast-paced and addicting gameplay, fun challenges, and a stellar soundtrack, I can easily say that Donkey Kong Country is one of the best platformers I've ever played. While not perfect, it is an outstanding game that everyone should get a chance to play for themselves. Category:Blog posts